


Pull of the Light

by goingtothetardis



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Angst, Bad Wolf, Episode Fix-It: s02e13 Doomsday, Episode: s02e13 Doomsday, F/M, Telepathic Bond, The Void, doomsday fixit, fixit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-13
Updated: 2016-09-16
Packaged: 2018-08-14 22:15:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,498
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8030836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/goingtothetardis/pseuds/goingtothetardis
Summary: A golden light pierces his mind, a powerful wave of something so impossible yet so familiar, he can’t even put a word to it.





	1. The Doctor

**Author's Note:**

  * For [arynrds](https://archiveofourown.org/users/arynrds/gifts).



> I've had this idea bouncing around my mind for a few days, so I decided to finally write it down. I wanted to explore the idea of their bond keeping them together. Maybe it's been done before, I don't know, so I'm sorry if I step on any toes. 
> 
> Thanks to Shutupandlovetennant for the quick read through.

He can only look on with wide-eyed horror, clinging to his clamp, as Rose’s fingers slip from the lever one by one. 

In the space of a few seconds, his mind is inundated by a storm of thoughts. 

_He can’t lose her yet. It’s too soon. It’ll always be too soon_

They’d only just bonded, not two weeks before, and now, across their bond, desperate fear overrides anything else. It’s a far cry from the blissful contentment they’d shared that morning, sweaty and sated, wrapped around each other on their bed.

 _Doctor!_ Rose cries inside his mind. 

He reaches for her, a useless action, across the space between them, and despite her frantic attempts to hold on, her fingers lose their grip, and she falls. 

_She falls._

Time slows around him as the keeper of his hearts is sucked toward certain death. He screams her name through her own cries of terror, and the sounds are quickly swallowed by the pull of the Void. 

And still, she falls. 

Closer and closer to the Void, the darkness lapping at her heels. 

Their bond already feels the reverberations of the Void, the nothingness of the space shredding the edges of the thing he cherishes most. 

Relentless in its desire to consume, the Void continues to suck Daleks and Cybermen haphazardly into the gap. For the briefest second he wonders how he or Rose have avoided collision, but no matter, now. 

_Pain._ Pain so strong he almost lets go, hammers at his mind. Bile rises up his throat, but he pushes it down. There will be a time for that, later. After. 

_No._

In these last seconds, his eyes lock with Rose’s, and despite the agony of the destruction of their bond, he sends the depth of his feelings across the connection. His love, first and foremost, while not yet uttered out loud, pulses strongly through his mind and hearts with every waking moment.

In return, he gets the same surge of emotions, and then suddenly–

_Nothing._

The moment she crosses over the threshold to the Void, their bond shatters, an explosion of energy so great, he feels his mind start to fold in on itself. 

In his pain, his eyes scrunch together, and he screams. 

And still he holds on.

&&&

A golden light pierces his mind, a powerful wave of something so impossible yet so familiar, he can’t even put a word to it. It snags on the remnants of his bond with Rose and pulls. Instinctively wrapping his mind around this force, he weaves the damaged edges of the bond through the soothing essence of the light.

In an instant, the tugging sensation is amplified ten-fold, as though there’s something on the other end pulling itself toward him. He seeks it out, responding intuitively the light, and the pressure in his mind grows ever stronger. 

And then, inexplicably, _she’s back_ , Rose once again filling the empty space in his mind where only seconds before she’d been ripped from so harshly. 

The Doctor’s eyes fly open in shock and disbelief as his body hits the floor, and there, by the wall below the freshly closed breach, lies Rose. 

It’s as if the Void just spit her out, her soul too bright a light to contain inside the nothingness. 

Picking himself up from the floor, he sprints to kneel beside her, hovering over her still form. 

“ROSE!” He can’t help panic that continues to lace his tone. “Rose! Rose, what–? How–?” The words tumble incoherently off his tongue until she finally opens her eyes. 

It’s all he can do to keep from flying back. 

Her eyes glow with the golden light, and suddenly the memory of the moment Rose stepped from his TARDIS on the game station flits through his mind. 

And he _knows_.

_Bad Wolf._

“I told you I’m never gonna leave you, Doctor,” Rose rasps. “I found my way back.”


	2. Rose

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A golden light explodes to life inside her mind, and Rose jolts to reality as sparks race across every nerve in her body.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After publishing the first half of this a few days ago, the idea to write Rose's POV kind of consumed me. Recently, Arynrds prompted me with a "surprise me" trick or treat prompt on tumblr, and since she was so enthusiastic about the first part, I decided to write this second part for her birthday today! So happy birthday!! :) I hope you like it!!
> 
> Thanks to Caedmon for the quick read-through this morning.

With a loud spark, a loud female voice announces the lever is offline. Rose watches in disbelief as the machine shuts down. Around them, the flow of Daleks and Cybermen slows, and Rose understands what she has to do. 

She’s the only one who can. 

With on hand still firmly clenched around the clamp, she reaches for the lever but can’t quite get it. And so, without looking at the Doctor, she throws herself at the lever. From this angle, however, she can’t pull it back into position. 

_Rose, no!_ The Doctor’s voice inside her mind is panicked. 

“I’ve gotta get it upright!” Rose, holding onto the lever with all her strength, moves her body around the machine so she can push the lever up from the other side. 

Finally, she’s there, and as she pushes the lever back into position, she chances a glance at the Doctor, who’s sending a litany of prayers through her mind, to any deity willing to listen. It hurts to see the creases of terror on his face, and the look in his eyes– 

_Doctor, I have to. It’s the only way_ , she says before pushing the lever into locked position.

It’s a short-lived relief. 

In locked position, the pull of the Void speeds up, and only now does Rose realize the true risk of her plan. 

The Doctor cries out for her to hold on, reaches for her in his panic, and she screams for him across their bond as she’s pulled off her feet. Fear, belonging to both of them, courses through her veins.

Her fingers begin to slip, one by one, and she understands what’s going to happen.

_She can’t lose him yet. They’ve only just begun._

The Doctor screams her name as she slips from the lever, falling toward the Void. 

The sensation of time slowing envelops her, and through her screams, Rose looks at the Doctor, memorizing his face, committing _him_ to memory. Already, so close to the Void, she feels the the cracking of their bond, and a splitting pain shoots through her mind. 

Rose is inundated with one last burst of feelings from the Doctor, and with all her strength, Rose sends as much of her love as possible across their bond. It’s crude and messy, but there’s no time for the precision of eloquent thoughts.

In this last moment, his face is all she sees.

And then–

Rose crosses the breach.

Nothingness consumes her.

 **& &&**

Nothingness consumes her. 

Or not nothingness, she doesn’t know. She knows nothing. 

One moment there’s a cold and slimy, claustrophobic evasiveness against her heart, irritating the jagged remnants of the broken bond. The next moment it’s gone.

What is a moment?

What is time?

Life is but a memory, not even that. 

And so she lingers, caught in the web of darkness – or not darkness – trapped within the malicious whispers of hell. 

There is everything.

There is nothing.

 **& &&**

A golden light explodes to life inside her mind, and Rose jolts to reality as sparks race across every nerve in her body. 

For a moment – there are moments, now – Rose almost suffocates within her panic. The Void surrounds her, consumes her, and she doesn’t know how to escape. 

It is not darkness. It is not light. It is nothing. She almost allows herself to fall back into the trap that held her captive. 

_But the light._

She focuses on the golden light inside her mind and welcomes its familiar presence. She _knows_ it. It is part of her, an essence of her soul, and she wraps herself around the light, clinging to it with long forgotten hope. 

The golden presence brushes against the edges of the bond, and Rose sobs as the pain of what she’d lost – what had been taken from her – reasserts itself in her mind with a rush of memories. 

_The Doctor._

How could she have forgotten the Doctor? 

She didn’t, not really. It is the purpose of the Void, to erase all things. 

And yet, she remembers. She _feels_.

Her hope grows. 

Despite the pain – she embraces it – Rose searches for her bondmate. Using the light as a guide, Rose immerses herself in the lingering echoes of their bond. The nothingness gives way to the light during her relentless hunt.

She seeks.

And finds.

With the power of the light, Rose enters the Doctor’s mind and finds the remnants of their bond. The light catches on the edges, and when the Doctor begins weaving both his mind and their bond through the light, she uses all the strength in her mind to pull herself toward him. 

He’s her anchor in the storm, and he, too, responds to the presence of the golden light, tugging her ever closer. 

Until finally–

The Void rejects her, the existence of the light too great for it to devour. 

**& &&**

Her eyes flicker open and find the Doctor’s frantic face above her. He calls her name, over and over, and she smiles.

_Doctor._

“I told you I’m never gonna leave you, Doctor.” Her voice is thick, heavy from disuse. “I found my way back.”


End file.
